Boiling Over In Buffalo (Hour 3)

Welcome back in hour number three of our radio program.

It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. What a year it was for the New York Football Giants back in the playoffs. They win a postseason game up against the Vikings before losing to Philadelphia in the divisional round and now joining us just wrapped up his rookie season with the Giants as a safety fourth round pick out of Iowa is of course Dane Belton. Dane, thanks for coming in. Appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing well.

Thank you guys for having me. So how do you kind of look back? Rookie year, I know it got off to an unfortunate start with the broken collarbone but you quickly got back to the field. How do you kind of recap what your rookie season was like? Oh it was it was a huge blessing you know being able to to go out there like you said come back from an injury and still be able to play meaningful football for the team and help them win and it was a great experience overall.

You know successful season and looking forward to the future. When did you get comfortable? Were you comfortable right away or did it take a little bit? I would say it took a little bit you know especially just coming in straight from college you go right into rookie mini camp and OTAs and things like that but I definitely think it was a quick you know quick level of comfortability that came in and especially the guys helping me and just being able to you know teach me things and show me the ropes and and get comfortable was really the big thing. Right now everyone's going through the draft process the combine just wrapped up I always poke fun at the combine because it's if you could run a 40 and throw up a bunch of reps on the bench press all of a sudden you shoot up the draft board it's almost like the film all throughout the years uh does not matter but how do you kind of look back at your draft experience and what that process was like showcasing what you could do to all these teams that would be interesting? Yeah it was a period in my life where every everything you did was amplified and just going through that that experience.

You take a walk oh he didn't take a walk fast enough, stupid. No exactly and yeah everything is measured everything is is bigger than what it normally is but like I said it was a blessing to be in that position being able to showcase my abilities at the combine you know pro days being able to talk to different organizations was was huge and like you said the combine it's a it's a crazy weekend but you know at the end of the day it's a blessing to be in that position. Did you get asked any weird things? Yeah we hear about that all the time. Oh man I can't even uh I don't even remember uh not I guess nothing really crazy.

Any staring contests rock paper scissors shoot? No nothing nothing like that it was it was crazy uh I had a former with the 49ers and John Lynch obviously the GM and you know he was a safety for my hometown team so being able to talk to him and it was like after the after the meeting one of the guys was like you know who that is and he's like I was like yeah it's John Lynch he's like okay just making sure you know your history I was like how could I not know that but yeah other than that no it was it was a good experience. So you grew up as a Buccaneers fan?

Yes sir. Who were some of your favorite players growing up? Oh man when I was growing up we were pretty bad so you know we had guys like Josh Freeman Josh Freeman guys like that so uh definitely Rondae Barber was my favorite just playing defensive back you know as good as he was being able to watch him and I would say definitely him. No we work with his brother Tiki so we always have to get uh pitted into a corner who's your favorite barber that that's always a struggle and I had to tell Rondae at the Super Bowl that I go with Tiki just because I see him every day then Rondae gave me chicken though he gave me some church's chickens oh yeah tried to fatten me up to win me over that usually does it uh Dane Belton here with us in studio other players growing up as a kid like who were some guys that you kind of just gravitated towards and and just found yourself watching whether it was on YouTube or a lot on Sundays? Yeah I would say the main guy was Megatron you know being able to watch him just witnessed that witnessed like his production and all he did was crazy I used to get you know his hats you know the Megatron Nike snapbacks and definitely wanted to be him but that was the guy that sticks out the most just being able to watch him and obviously when I was younger uh Troy Palamalu you know being able to watch him as a safety and make the plays he did and and make some crazy plays at that were definitely two guys I love to watch and still still love to go back and watch our highlights and it's still funny to this day when I think of Megatron trying to think of like three defensive backs trying to guard him and he just goes up top yeah and it didn't matter and Palamalu you just knew where he was at all times because he could destroy your your day but that hair was just awesome most definitely Dane Belton here with us in studio so you're going through this dream obviously you grow up and you're a big football fan and you're watching all these players when did you start to say because like everyone grows up as a kid and says they want to be an athlete but when did you start to realize I could actually do this I could play at the next level in the NFL yeah I would say it was after my freshman in high school you know I moved up to varsity and it was that spring you know we have a lot of in Florida we have spring period where a lot of college coaches are coming down and just being able to talk to coaches and be like you know we still we like you out even though you're so young and just being able to realize then that I could play at the college level and then if I could play at college and perform well I could also ultimately get to the NFL so that was really when it started to become reality and from there you know it was just about I really wanted it so I had to you know do everything I needed to do to get there so I would say that's when it started becoming reality how many positions did you play in high school oh man I played obviously I played safety I played receiver wildcat quarterback I was on every special teams I returned I was actually the punter my my senior year wow yeah so definitely could you boot the ball I had I had a good amount of punts over 50 some down inside the five so hey I got the job done so but it definitely played a lot of positions so now you have a year under your belt you probably have a relationship with coach day ball do you go into his office at one point and go coach if you need me down inside the red zone I could use probably the few extra bucks in the contract negotiations down the road let me uh fire off a pass oh man I think it's a little bit different in this level but and we have guys like Isaiah and different receivers that can you know win those jump balls so you know I definitely probably stick to safety but if the opportunity comes I would definitely jump on it Dane Belton here with us so your relationship with Brian Day ball just take us behind the scenes a little bit obviously we've known about him for a long time he finally gets that opportunity to become a head coach in this league and he blew it out of the park and you're number one just being in that locker room what was the vibe and what was the culture like oh man the culture was crazy I loved it you know being a rookie I wasn't here to see the last regime but just talking to the guys that have been here just talking seeing the difference that they they talk about and how how much they love dable and this culture he has it just you know there's nothing like you know the energy he brings in every meeting every win in locker room even when we lose just being able to command the locker room and everyone wants to listen to him and you know from our first year I couldn't ask for anything more I think a lot of times throughout the year people were just waiting for the Giants to fall off because going into the year no one really expected much especially with the new regime coming in and the state of the roster did you guys take that personally because even when you guys were having success it was yeah the Giants are playing really well but they're not one of the better teams in the NFL yeah I would say I wouldn't say we took it personally I would say we all knew you know what was being said about us you know the expectations coming in the year and even when the year started you know that we weren't going to keep that that streak or the you know the hotness alive but you know for us you know being professionals you know we just got to go out there and do our jobs so at the end of the day we weren't reading too much of what people were saying you we knew what we we control our own destiny so you know we knew what they were saying but at the end of the day you know it really didn't affect us that much walking into that locker room what do you remember about that were you starstruck at all I know it's a business but there's also a personal side of it I wouldn't say I was starstruck but there's definitely people like okay that's so and so I would say Saquon's over there wow holy crap Leo guys like that I know in the team meeting I sit next to Adore Jackson every day so you know my childhood self would have went crazy knowing that later on in life I'd sit next to Adore Jackson but you know at the end of the day we're all guys and we just hang out and everyone's cool so it's not it's not like anyone's like above anyone else in that aspect they treat each other so it's definitely a good vibe around the locker room is it easy to to win over Dexter Lawrence because that dude is just a mauler on the field and I think he's the best player on the Giants honestly yeah a great player I remember I know uh recall like coming in I was always like quiet you know sitting in the meeting rooms and he always would look at me with this like strange face like I'm gonna figure you out one day and it was he always come up to me like you're so quiet like well what are you thinking and but no a great dude you know uh just a great leader we have and like you said a phenomenal player that you know I'm glad to have on our side what was this last week like for you because now you get to experience the business side of it and I know you could only control what you could control but there's all these rumors is Daniel Jones gonna get franchise tags he's gonna get a contract Saquon Barkley is he gonna be back on the team is he gonna hit the market and you find out Saquon gets the tag and Daniel Jones gets the four-year deal yeah I'm not gonna lie I kind of found myself in a spot where I was like almost like a fan where I'm checking twitter like are they did they sign them yet I'm trying to pick up on the news but you know definitely had to take a step back but you know because I wanted to make sure those guys were coming back you know those are two phenomenal players we have two great leaders and great guys to be around so I definitely you know wanted them back you know even as as just a rookie but definitely being able to see those guys come back and sign the deal and I know Saquon's tagged and hopefully they work out a deal with him too but just having those guys back is is awesome for our team what do you say because Daniel Jones gets the contract and then right away people go to twitter and they're like oh he's not worth the money he's not going to be a great quarterback in the league what do you say to people that doubt Daniel Jones yeah I would say there's so many people that doubt him but they don't see the work he puts in day in and day out you know the hours he spends and just the the amount of production he has just for for our team you know this past year and me being able to see him for one year it was like yeah I kind of knew right away like this guy's legit and this is I would love to have him as my quarterback so I'm glad I do and so just for them to just really watch and see you know I feel like we're only at the beginning of what we can be as a team and it's just only going to go from here what's the message you being in that locker room you have a year under your belt and you guys exceeded all expectations last year some people may say oh there's going to be regression with the Giants we got to see what they do in the off season you being a player what's your message to the fan base about what this team could be next year yeah I would say the big thing is you know we exceeded outside expectation but we didn't exceed our expectation and that's to win you know going one and every weekend ultimately try to win a championship so I would say for the fan bases understand that you know we're a work in progress but at the end of the day we're striving for that championship in that Super Bowl so you know until we get there we won't be satisfied. Dane Belton here with Dustin Studio from the Giants your game individually what are you working to improve on this offseason yeah really just every aspect you know trying to first and foremost get my body fully healthy you know like you said coming back from injury I was still lingering a little bit just trying to get back there and after that you know just continue to sharpen the mental side you know being able to see schemes that offenses do you know after you're under my belt and just ultimately you know just getting more physical as far as like getting bigger faster stronger I feel like those things you can never get you know too much of so really just a well-rounded offseason will really help me out what's your best Wink story Wink Martin did oh man it's so many stories I call back on but I would say just he tells us a lot of stories I remember in London he told us a story when he met Rihanna and it was a really it was a crazy story and I can't see him and Rihanna meshing it from yeah yeah exactly and it was like when he told us we were looking like is this real or like he's probably telling the truth so you know just being him just telling all these different stories he's a great guy to have as our you know leader in defense when you got that call fourth round pick Giants you know we've had Joe Shane on this show a lot I like what he's done so far in your one what do you remember about when you got that call where were you had to kind of all go down yeah I was back home in Tampa Florida you know surrounded by my close family and just being able to get that call having taken a 30 visit not even not less than two weeks before the draft and just being so familiar with you know with those guys and getting that call and hearing Joe first and talking to Dave's and Wink was just like you know I'm ready to go you know I had a certain hat from the 30 visit so right when I got drafted I threw it on so you know I was sporting the giant blue but it was just a great call great you know experience to be there with my family and experience all the hard work that you know they've done to get me where I'm at just culminating to that that point New York could be tough but it's so rewarding and you guys made this city like proud again of the Giants for where it was the last four or five years or so that New York experience so far like what do you take away from one year in New York I would say it's a great city you know I love like you said the fans have I've gone through a lot so to see us win and being my first year out that's the only thing I've experienced so to see how joyous they get when they were able to talk to us and like man you guys you don't know what you mean to us so just being able to hear that know that you know we we are doing this for more than ourselves doing this for more than just the team but you know the people are behind us so just hearing that support is everything to us what's your favorite individual memory from from this year oh man I would say got to be the pick the first pick right your first career I was about to say it probably is definitely I would say one is I got a quarterback hit on Aaron Rodgers in London and that was like you know those are guys you look up to you know Aaron Rodgers but I'll definitely go with the pick the first the best one for sure and then the playoff win that plane ride that must have been awesome oh man it was great that that environment in locker room too not even what two weeks after we lost to them and we knew that we were going to come back and play them again uh that was just a great experience for sure and I'll be impressed with day ball Dave's got some good dance moves in the locker room oh yeah I remember the first time I saw it was after the Tennessee game and when I saw that and just the way he I was like yeah this guy's legit but so but that's what was so fun about your team early on you guys sent a message you were going to compete and we didn't know if you could be a great team but you guys were going to compete and it didn't matter you had a few comebacks like that uh the Ravens game I remember too where you're down in the fourth quarter and when your backs up against the wall it was just bam it's go time you can't make any more mistakes yeah definitely and that's what we pride ourselves on being able to keep fighting as long as there's time on the clock you know there's a opportunity for us in the game so that was what you know the culture Dave's instilled in us that we know whenever we're on the field we're going to do our best and we're going to you know produce so that's really what we just did weekend and we go when you reach your full potential what football player can Dane Belton be like oh man uh I wouldn't want to compare myself to anyone I feel like there's there's different parts of my game that I like to emulate after people but at the end of the day when I reach my full potential you know that's gonna be a completely different player completely different person so you know that's what I strive for every day so just describe the type of player that you envision yourself being yeah I would say you know the just the the plays like Paula Malo the range like every you know being able to be physical like Brian Dawkins even though he's the Eagles Eagles player but you know just guys like that that emulate after my my game after and just being able to to do that on the field is what I look for why'd you go to Iowa wonder just wondering yeah program but yeah uh it was a lot of things I went into you know I had a lot of offers but it was just all things included you know this was my ultimate goal to be playing in the NFL and you know the way they you know produce especially DBs and develop them from from young guys walk-ons former receivers and taking them I knew the coach could do it with me and he's a great coach he's the defensive coordinator and the DB coach so being able to play under him was amazing before we let you run so we know about what you could do on the field we know your background what do you like off the field Dane Belton when he got some personal time what are you doing uh I'm hanging out you know I like to play video games I'm on call of duty right now uh just hanging out uh read a little bit and really other than that just just chill you know take advantage of the free time if you weren't playing football what would you be doing professionally I would say something around the sport of football I just love the game so much you know I'll definitely have looked just thought about coaching when I'm done and other than that being an entrepreneur with some type of business that revolves around you know training athletes or being able to to get an athlete to his best uh potential well Dane Belton nice to meet you congrats on year one and good luck coming up the rest of the way yes sir I appreciate it you're listening to the Zach Gelb show time for your daily news brief we get you caught up on the rumors reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports all righty so let's start things off in Arizona so Kelvin Beauchamp who was on the Cardinals this past season and he is now a free agent has been around the league forever so this is not like a young player just pop it off this is a veteran this is someone that's well respected in that locker room and he's about to enter free agency like is there a chance he retires I guess uh Kelvin Beauchamp he's got to be what like 33 now I would say yeah he's 33 years old so he's been in league for a long time that's a good guess by me by the way it's just like I gotta be like 33 I remember I interviewed him when I was first uh started off in this industry uh years back when he was playing with the Jets but he's bounced around Steelers Jaguars Jets and Cardinals so we'll see how much longer he does play but Hickey I'm going to assume and we'll play the audio in just a second that he's not going to be back in in Arizona in Arizona he didn't go as far I guess to say trash Kyler Murray but he kind of kept it real enough where like I said he knows he's on the way out and kind of speaking more freely than he would if he thought he's gonna be back well before even I just read the the uh the quote I did not listen to it yet I like to save that for this segment but just based off the way that the quotes did read he's definitely sending a message and he's definitely giving Kyler Murray probably the tough love that he needs and the only problem is the the only time we've seen Kyler Murray really get a lot of blowback because for most of the time it's just been so positive positive guys a video game player was after that playoff game against the Rams and he didn't handle that all that well it was very childish and immature and petulant so here's Kelvin Beecham on Arizona Sports out in the desert on what is that 98.7 I believe saying that Kyler Murray needs to mature there's a lot of criticism of Kyler what does he have to do in your opinion to be great grow up give me an example be a man to grow up like it's not it's not complicated you got to be a leader of men period and he's not right now he's maturing but he's not there yet he's not there it's not a completed process it's not a completed process be a leader of men he's got all the tools you think he has all the tools man if some guy can throw up one leg he can you know throw it a mile he can run fast and anybody else on the field he just lacks the leadership he's put together I don't say he lacks the leadership I just think he needs to grow up a little bit and I think if he has the ability and the willingness to grow up he's gonna be just fine so he's basically saying he can do it but it's a want to do it type of situation especially with leadership you got to want to be the leader and it does not sound like Kyler wanted to do that last year and I don't know about you it doesn't feel like Jonathan Gannon is going to be this big authoritative voice when he walks up the first day and he's dapping up all the players and I forget which was it Ron Delmore he's in explosions big plays I think Jonathan Gannon's more of a player friendly type of coach maybe the opposite of Mike Vrabel would you say yeah that's fair or Mike Tomlin like Mike Tomlin Mike Tomlin and Mike Vrabel are two great examples they are tough coaches to play for they know how to relate to their players but no one wants to cross over either Mike Tomlin or Mike Vrabel because you will get chewed out you know it's kind of like I worked at a sleepaway camp once and I was in charge of all the the uh the seventh and eighth grade boys in the staff so I was in charge of like 50 campers and then probably like 15 staff members and they liked me but I could also be tough in terms of they liked me and we gelled but when I got mad about something I thought it was more powerful and they listened more because they liked you and they respected you at the end of the day and that's what I think like Mike Vrabel and Mike Tomlin are they get along with their players they know how to relate to their players but when coach yells and when you messed up coach tells you that and then you kind of feel that motivation of okay I'm not going to walk over coach I'm going to do what he says and it feels like especially kind of in hard knocks too you kind of got a better sense of it than just being on the outside it definitely felt like Cliff was trying to be Kyler's friend yeah and Gannon feels like more of a more of a doormat probably hope not for the Cardinal's sake but if you're right not my kelvin Beach is gonna be Kelvin Beach is gonna be right not much is gonna change now to be fair though if Gannon is similar to Sirianni we all thought Sirianni was like this doormat as well and those players listen to everything that Sirianni says he was just wearing jerseys and we thought okay you're really gonna never respect a coach like that especially with the flower analogy in the city like Philadelphia and ended up being the case that they were just in the Super Bowl and if the defense could make a stop they would have won the Super Bowl let's hear one more from Kelvin Beachum he says Kyler Murray has to recognize the responsibilities on his shoulders as the franchise QB they paid him for a reason they paid him because of his talent and he has the ability to lead is just when you're in that position we need you to lead more like you're the face of the franchise you got to lead more you got to lead in every single capacity of leadership um and that's what they look for out of a franchise quarterback they give you you know half a billion like new coaching staff may be able to push him in a different way than the old coaching staff did we'll see we'll see Kyler's his own individual he's his own person he beats his own drum which has made him what he is today but at the end of the day you have to be able to lead an entire organization you got to lead a team and there's a lot of weight on his shoulders i mean he's young but that's that comes with the territory and that comes with being a franchise quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals you're tasked with being that leader when when i just listen back to that and i think about the future i wouldn't have any sympathy for Kyler Murray but hickey Kyler Murray's in a tough spot right now because you're going to be coming off an injury we don't know when you're going to play next year and i always say this about quarterbacks when you come off an ACL injury i don't think you get back to your normal self at a full hundred percent until the following year because there is a mental component of that as well that you have to overcome and that doesn't get washed away until you get hit a bunch of times and then to see how your body does respond to recover from that but the pressure is going to be there on Kyler Murray because all the excuses are out the door now when Cliff Kingsbury is no longer there as the head coach Steve Keim is no longer there as the new GM and this is a new regime that Monty Austin Fort and Jonathan Gannon sure they want you to succeed because you're already paid but they don't have any attachments to you so for Kyler Murray he's gonna have to go very quickly and show why he's worth it very quickly but who knows a when he gets on the field next year and then when he is back how much rust he does have to knock off that and also too it goes back to even last year when they paid him like no one doubts Kyler Murray's talent but almost everyone universally when he got paid was like oh i don't know about this and it almost came too quickly and it was like too quick too fast for in part because like you said a lot of responsibilities as a franchise quarterback comes with being the face carrying the team and the only thing we saw with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals was they got the hot starts and completely fold down the stretch anytime the going got tough they would collapse and it started with their quarterback and it's like when you get that money sure it's great for your bank account but also with that comes a ton of pressure like Kelvin Beecher was talking about all the responsibility and doesn't seem like either Kyler Murray wants to acknowledge that part is ready to take on that part and it just goes back to why they raced into this too quickly before he was actually truly ready to earn that money and not only that you look at at Kyler Murray right now it's just even the clause on the contract remember where we gave him the money but we don't trust him to study so we have to put a study clause in there oh then that gets released okay we take the study clause out but you get that guy all the money and you don't trust him to put in the work that's that's a bad sign and if he does not play well next year then 2024 it's a make or break year and you look at the way the dead cap is structured this year we'll see when he gets back it's 97 million then in 2024 it's 81 million on the dead cap if he doesn't play well in 2024 hickey well that's a year and a half probably after the injury 2025 the dead cap falls to 33 million and years ago we would say oh 33 million in dead cap you got to keep the guy on the roster a lot of other teams have shown you no you don't especially at that position if murray doesn't turn this around quickly maybe as soon as 2025 you could see this new regime say bye bye snip snip gone you're cut and then you're looking for a new quarterback out of the desert new gm new head coach no ties to him in a year and a half like you said i think you're 100% right when it comes like having a full year back from the acl so it's tough to truly judge him in terms of next year obviously leadership be able to but on the field wise it's really not it's going to kind of be a wash but you're at 2024 if we're seeing the same old same old he doesn't grow as a leader doesn't grow as a person i think he's gone mike lombardi says the rams are trying to trade matthew stafford this courtesy of the pep mackenzie show oh matt stafford's fully available for matt stafford they're trying to they would love to trade they could they can't do it because he's got 57 million guaranteed got 57 million coming to him no matter what the ram what are they going to do they're trying to get out from it so i don't really want to hear the oh we're not trying to trade him yes you are you've called teams i know this so like that's kind of to me a little misleading they want to trade him but they know that no one's going to trade for him right now with the way that contract is structured it's like all right what does that actually mean then hickey well i think it shows you what they're i think what their their intentions are are very interesting because again we talked about earlier this week shalom comes back you assume he's come back to run it back and now we see all the veterans what he wants i i really do believe shawn mcveigh wants to retire just at the end of the day got cold feet and didn't go to television what are you going to do that if you get your wish you trade matthew stafford is it part of a lamar deal maybe outside of that if you just trade him for picks what is your plan you gonna be aggressive in the draft well how can you you're going to try to get henden hooker in round two i don't know what their plan is i know that we all poo poo the salary cap these days and i probably do it more than anybody if you get rid of stafford you still have a large dead cap hit how do you then afford both the salary that you're gonna have to pay lamar jackson and stafford it's not gonna happen anyway because stafford's not gonna get traded but that number still means something it does and again no one's better at the captain the rams and that team what are you trying to like what is then you're are you just ripping it down like that roster has big names stafford cooper cup aaron donald that roster is not good it's in a bad spot right now they went all in it worked rams is gonna get traded bobby wagner already told you i don't believe this is working i want to go win somewhere i'm out you're getting rid of alan robinson as well their offensive line stinks so i look at the rams this is one footed one foot out and i still don't know what the end goal is here i know this i think it was this is kind of surrounding sean pay when he retired two years ago but wasn't the reports when sean uh sean mcveigh was away and contemplating retirement that he didn't want to rebuild didn't want to go through a rebuild yeah wasn't that him what are we doing then like if you wanted to to retire in part to avoid going four and 13 again why'd you come back because like i said ever since he came back they have done nothing in terms of trying to build themselves into a winner it's been instead let's tear it down and get rid of any and every asset we have right now at least that's what's trying to do it was from mike florio in january sean mcveigh wants no part of rams rebuild now it's like bobby wagner gone jaylen ramsey on the block matthew stafford might be traded like what i know he just got married sean mcveigh maybe he's afraid to just go home too much time at home is is not good for anyone he does not stand with the guy who will do well with a lot of free time like look go look at uh philip rivers all of a sudden he wants to come back yeah you have 9 000 children in your home all the time that's true that's true and that's mcveigh with with to my knowledge no kids and a smoking hot wife i would take all the alone time if you ask me with with her with her oh i take that money and run i would retire and i would never look back and mcveigh's not a bad guy you put some makeup on him though like you're living a good life there if you're sean out in la and then whenever you want to go coach again you go coach again that's a rough spot for for mcveigh but actually respect that he stayed if he's willing to see this through if it's like sean payton where it's all i'm gonna stay for a year and then up all right it didn't work i'm out and then i'll go another place that then screw off raheem morris succession plan coming 2024 get ready yeah it's gonna be like bruce arian's i always envisioned it handing over to todd all right daniel jones on if he feels extra pressure to perform after getting the contract i've always felt that responsibility and and uh you know playing this position um you know especially for a team like the like the new york giants in the city you know you have that responsibility and and uh i take that very seriously daniel jones always gonna say the right thing i don't think that's ever a guy that says the wrong thing it is the zack yelp show on cbs sports radio all right we will take a break when we come on back i got some quotes from stefan digs we talked about him yesterday the man has spoken and he's done so on the shop we'll get into that audio or i'll read you the quotes next you're listening to the zack gilb show zack yelp show cbs sports radio so i'll just say this stefan digs ever since the playoff game it just feels bizarre with him and the buffalo bills now let me be clear i don't think he's going anywhere he's not getting traded this off season so if you're speculating that i i don't necessarily agree with that but you saw him very frustrated and yelling at josh allen towards the end of that playoff game and that would be one thing then you keep on hearing this like oh you want to play with your brother and then naturally the cockroach cowboy fans are like oh come to dallas join us in dallas and then yesterday you just got like some weird tweets by stefan digs don't take things personal from people you don't know personally it's just business don't take it personal that's what they say at least so that's all over the place i don't know what it is and i was just reading on pro football talk i guess that stefan digs was on the shop and we'll get to those quotes in just a second but you also got to remember here hickey it got ugly at the end of minnesota and i'm not ready to say it's at that point yet but it you're at a time a point in time where it's like i don't know what the heck is going on here because going into and they just paid him too but going into this season i don't think anyone would even envisions the fon digs outside of a bill's uniform but like now even though i do not think it will happen this off season you do wonder with what you saw and how ugly it ended in minnesota how much longer is this relationship going to last in buffalo and i don't know like maybe we are just prematurely speculating here but it is something where the dead cap goes from 45 million this year to then 25 the next and 18 after that and then 10 and 3 and then he's an unrestricted free agent going into 2028 but if they if somehow let's say this just keeps on getting worse and worse and worse would it surprise me in two years from now if he tries to get his way out of town no and then as great as josh allen is you got to then go find the way to go get another big time wide receiver so i'll tell you what he said on the shop he said appearing on the shop and this is from through florio dig said nothing about leaving his current team he said plenty about his efforts understand his current team's inability to fulfill its full potential it doesn't make sense dig said i'll rack my brain with this uh bleep at this point i think it's more execution than anything bleep is small little pieces on why it's not going right we've got the players we've got the plays why bleep ain't coming together that's where you draw some of those questions i never want to question who i am i never want to question how i am i'm giving this bleep everything i've got i'm dying on the hill for that like i hear that that's a player that is annoyed and i expected to be annoyed this was a super bowl or bus season for the bills and you didn't even get to the conference title game you got smacked like you didn't just lose on a field goal you got smacked by the bangles and two years ago like you look at the last three seasons so they lose in the afc title game and then you saw that that photo of digs on the field as kansas city celebrates and goes to the super bowl taking it all in and it was like the i'll be back moment but that was a positive season for the bills and then last year you had the chiefs beat and your defense couldn't get off the field in the final 13 seconds don't get me wrong that's gut-wrenching but then going into this season it was like oh okay everything has to come together and i know that it was i can't believe i'm going to say this hickey i know that last year you you thought you couldn't get a worse loss than that because you had the game one and then victory was snatched away but this year this year against the bangles i actually think was worse because you got embarrassed and you thought you were close and a team that was in the super bowl a year ago but didn't get back to the super bowl this year not only went into your house they went into your house they put their asses on your couch they put your feet up they took everything out of your fridge they made stakes in your house devoured the stakes then slept with your wife and then the next morning just rolled out of town and left your house a mess that's what the cincinnati bangles did to the buffalo bills they basically had project x in your house and they didn't pay for any of the cleanup so that one this year is tougher i think than losing to the chiefs in a game that you basically had won in the divisional round and who would have known if you then would have peed the bangles after that probably not with the way that it went down this year especially at home and like i said just outclassed outclassed him always a super bowl or bust season your season comes to an end at home by a team that showed you they don't you don't even deserve to be on the same field as them i'm with you and you hear stefan digs you see him at the end in minnesota what was it screaming at kirk cousins you see him at the end of this year screaming at josh yeah now i think he has a lot more respect for josh allen they did kirk cousins that was part of the reason why his uh exit was expedited but it's kind of a similar pattern of when things are not going his way or he's getting frustrated he takes the blame out on the quarterback he takes the blame out on others and it kind of usually leads to a you know a quick fuse and an exit and stefan digs look we've seen guys like rainy moss be very talented bounce around terrell owens kind of same thing like stefan digs is kind of in that class as well super talented very fiery kind of wears out his welcome faster than you would hope faster than you would like yeah i do think that divorce is though a little bit cleaner than the other two it's just like in the social media era now where he just does a lot of the bitching on social media yeah i'm with i don't think he's getting trade this obviously i think it's not bad yet but like i said it starts there like there's a little fire festering a little smoke starting to you know flare up you lose it or if they lose the division what if it was in the wild card round next year get rogers and they lose the division i don't think that's gonna happen but imagine if it does what if josh down is another repeat of 2022 struggles in the red zone doesn't play well kind of all or nothing on offense he's frustrated lose again poyer doesn't come back edmunds is gone you know i will say this though and i think this is gonna surprise you they are very dangerous for next year because now they go from the team that everyone was picking to win it to next year no one's gonna think they're gonna stink i'm sure everyone's gonna still pick them to win the afcs but if the jets get rogers you know some people are then gonna say oh then the jets are gonna win the division they're gonna use that as doubt i don't think there's gonna be a big push this year for people picking the bills to go to the super bowl you know they go get derek henry maybe that goes out the window but they don't drastically improve that run game and let's say they lose a guy like uh poyer i think you'll see a lot more people gravitate towards the bangles the chiefs to get to the super bowl and like if you want to throw a dark horse in there then maybe someone will get like a little risky and go with the jaguars jaguars charters i feel very safe saying the 85 of people that picked the bills last year ain't gonna do it this year the number is not gonna be 85 or 90 percent here i know it was last year you look back at august and july it was insane well i i said it in insane i said it in may that that i was gonna pick them to go to the super bowl and then i was on one of our affiliates in rochester and they had me on right before the start of the season i go guys i'm changing my super bowl pick and it's not because i don't believe the bills are going to the super bowl because i still did but i'm picking someone else just because everyone's picking the buffalo bills now the team that i picked uh you know it was the raithins so that wasn't all that good but it is what it is so i want to see how this we're going to learn a lot about buffalo because this is either going to be really pretty next year or it's going to end with a big just thud and it's going to be ugly we'll see what happens all righty we'll break we'll come on back nick saben talks a little bit about retirement and also we got to get into the poll question aaron roger lamar jackson if you're the jets who would you rather pursue eight five five two one two four cbs eight five two one two forty two twenty seven on twitter and instagram at sec elb zach g-e-l-b